Prospective new employers would need to apply to Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) / Service Canada for having their proposed job offers reviewed and validated. Only then would the authorities issue a new work permit (for a change of employer or for employers moving to a new province or territory) to live-in caregivers.

Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) / Service Canada are responsible for assessing the genuineness of the prospective employer’s job offer. As such, they will review the employment contract and ensure that it includes all the mandatory information and clauses. In addition, Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) / Service Canada will assess whether the job offer and employment contract meet the requirements for:

Wages

Working conditions

The applicable provincial or territorial labour laws and,

The applicable provincial or territorial employment standards

Moreover, Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) / Service Canada would also need to ensure that there are not enough Canadians or permanent residents available for working as live-in caregivers in Canada. If Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) / Service Canada find the job offer acceptable, they will issue a positive or a neutral Labour Market Opinion (LMO) to the prospective new employer.

The live-in caregiver would then need to include a copy of the positive or neutral Labour Market Opinion (LMO) along with the application to change employers. Only then would they be able to obtain a new work permit.

Officers would need to refer to the website of Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) / Service Canada for obtaining further details on job offer validations and Labour Market Opinions (LMOs) concerning the Live-in Caregiver Program (LCP).

The Eligibility for Permanent Residence

The Live-in Caregiver Program (LCP) enables applicants to apply for permanent residence from within Canada after they have worked full-time as live-in caregivers for:

At least 24 months or,

A total of 3,900 hours in a minimum of 22 months within the four years immediately following their entry into Canada under the Live-in Caregiver Program (LCP)

Live-in caregivers could complete this total of 3,900 hours of full-time employment in a minimum of 22 months. In addition, they could also include a maximum of 390 hours of overtime. As part of their applications for permanent residence, live-in caregivers would need to select one of these two options i.e. 24 months or 3,900 hours. This would enable the officers to determine whether the caregivers meet the Live-in Caregiver Program (LCP) employment requirement.

Live-in caregivers would need to meet the requirements of the class as specified in the provisions specified in R113. They would need to do this at the time of their application for permanent residence. It is worth mentioning that the live-in requirement is an essential aspect of the Live-in Caregiver Program (LCP). This is because there is no shortage of Canadians or permanent residences willing to work as caregivers on a live-out basis.

The Quebec Applicants

The authorities require a Certificat de sélection du Quebec (CSQ) for admitting live-in caregivers in Quebec as permanent residents. This is required under the Canada – Quebec Accord, the province of Quebec’s consent.

Situations could arise where applicants might meet the federal Live-in Caregiver Program (LCP) requirements. However, Quebec might refuse to select the applicant and consequently, not issue a Certificat de sélection du Quebec (CSQ). In this scenario, the authorities would need to give the applicant the opportunity to select another province or territory from which the authorities would admit them as permanent residents.

It is worth highlighting that it would be unfair and legally unfounded to remove these applicants from Canada if the authorities have found that they meet federal Live-in Caregiver Program (LCP) requirements for permanent residence as specified in R113. Officers would need to refer to section 9.9 for further details concerning the processing of applications for live-in caregivers in Quebec.